Belated heartfelt gratitude is extended to all those thoughtful, generous and helpful people during and after our house fire at 1166 Methodist Road on March 24, 2005. The outpouring of concern and desire to help was heartwarming.

To begin with, many thanks to the astute passerby who promptly reported the fire, the man in the SUV who broke the front door open looking for inhabitants and the person who backed my blue truck up out of the way of the inferno. The immediate response of the very professional and dedicated Westbrook Fire Department and American Red Cross was bittersweet to witness. Had it not been for the extra effort of the firefighters to move items from one area to another, we would not have had as many surviving memories.

As the smoke cleared, the community support was overwhelming: the anonymous gallon of coffee and the dozen donuts left on the sole remaining front steps, the neighboring teenager who delivered delicious homemade brownies as we were sifting through soot for salvageable belongings, Millbrook Gardens for their gratuitous offer of their dump trucks and loader, Mr. and Mrs. Ron Giroux of Giroux Oil for providing the solution to keeping warm while working on the house and the offer of their personal facilities as neighbors, Olympia Sports for the brand new clothing provided by their “employee bank,” family member Darrick who reconnected the electricity, and the neighbor who took great pictures and gave us a set during the house demolition (since my camera wouldn’t work) to name just a few.

It’s impossible to recognize you all, but I must give special thanks to our good friend who took extra care to clean up “Snuggles,” our family cat who did not survive the fire, and who helped us give her a special burial.

A house fire is such a traumatic event but it was made so much easier because of all of you.

Our thanks to you all,

Tony, Travis and Melissa DiRenzo

Westbrook